Happy Cinco de Mayo

May 5th is upon us once again and with it brings another happy celebration of all drinking that is Mexican. I'm not really sure what Cinco de Mayo is...a celebration of Mexican Independance if you believe some, a celebration of humiliating the French if you believe my brother...but it certainly is a celebration. This time last year I was in Phoenix scoffing down Mexican food and sipping a Corona in the 90 degree weather. It's funny how May 5th is giving me perspective on my year, but it is a definable date which I can clearly remember.

Since that day I've continued my trip to Phoenix, been to New Zealand, got engaged and am about to head off to Calgary in a few weeks. In some ways I've grown up and in others I just can't settle down. I'm really looking forward to getting back out of town even if it is just for a week.

Adam and I were pouring over old New Zealand pictures and videos and it really struck me how much fun we had, and how great of an experience the trip was. So many stories and memories came rushing back...and we might have shed a tear or two.

Random Thoughts:
1) Pete Murray has been one of my favourite singers for some time now, and I only enjoy him more and more. If/when he comes to North America you should all check him out...OR check him out now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBYX3_-k7dc

2) We got drunk in New Zealand and had way too many inside jokes. The following video makes complete sense to me and everyone else in the room...but will make zero sense to anyone else. Laugh anyways!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FnPTeo_Bl8

3) Japanese tourists are funny

That makes no sense...

Have you ever noticed that every once in awhile you break out a popular catch phrase or saying that you've never used before, and suddenly it begins to permeate every conversation you're involved in. For 26 years I've never once used the saying "par for the course"..and as of last week I can't get away from it. I think this is strange for lots of reasons, such as:

1) I'm not good at golf
2) I don't particularly enjoy golf
3) Par is a score I am not familiar with
4) No one should ever say "par for the course"

The problem is, the more I try and stop, the more I use it, par for the course is my heroin...

Reading - Bowerman And The Men Of Oregon: The Story Of Oregon's Legendary Coach And Nike's Cofounder
Listening To - Demetri Martin stand up comedy

If anyone is still reading this you can now officially hold me accountable for any running I may want or intend to do. Running is my nemesis and my friend. I feel like absolute crap if I don't do it, but I'll find any excuse to not do it. Tonight the first season finale of Beauty and the Geek was on and it almost cost me a beautiful day. I eventually made it out for the run after I kept in mind that this is all part of a greater plan..The Toronto Half Marathon. Ever since running the Detroit Marathon Relay I've been itching to get out and do a half and finally move onto a full, but once again I've found ways around it.

Part of the problem is that when I did the relay I ran on little training because I had to take the final three weeks off because of a problem with my toe...I have messed up feet. I still ended up throwing down my best time for the 7 miles and now it makes me feel like I could just get out and run 13.1 if I wanted to...Wrong, very wrong! Winded after 20 minutes today was not a great feeling. Looks like I have a ways to go

Is anyone else thinking that Brandon Flowers from The Killers is slowly evolving into Colonel Sanders. It started with the dirty stache, progressed to the soul patch and finally he's added in the special two-ended Colonel Sanders tie

Who is who? You don't know do you? But you do want some dirty greasy chicken and a synthesizer...That's what the Killers and Colonel Sanders would want you to have.

Reading - "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards
Listening To - "Listen Isa" by Tomi Swick

Chocolate Bunnies Have Taken Over

So I just scarfed down another chocolate Easter egg and watched Jack Bauer strangle a terrorist with a chain...seemed like a good time to blog.

We had a student start today at our clinic and this always gives me the opportunity to see how truly dumb I am. It's funny to see how quickly our brain forgets work-related things but can remember lines from every Simpson episode, icluding "Puppy Go-Go, fetch me dream". If I can just remember one thing more than the student each day I figure I'm coming out on top. Next weekend I'm actually going to further my knowledge in luxurious Milton, Ontario. According to
Wikipedia, Milton is the fastest growing community in Canada and hometown of JAG's David JAmes Elliott. In other news, David James Elliott will not be teaching the class I am taking, but will be working at the Tim Horton's where I will buy my coffee as the only show I've ever seen him in is the cancelled JAG.

I just saw a preview for the new movie (Hot Fuzz) from the creators of Shaun of the Dead. Looks awesome, especially with the scene of the ass kicking priest similar to the movie Dead Alive...In case you haven't seen it (as most of you shouldn't have), here is the clip complete with priest saying "I kick ass for the Lord"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=znAj5C1rx4E

And the internet is back!

FINALLY! My lack of internet for the past 4 months has been resolved with the purchase of wireless internet which now allows me to walk anywhere through my apartment to type these messages. This means I could be cooking bacon right now while you are reading this...but I'm not.

Not much has gone on since the last month that I posted. I went to Ottawa to visit a lot of Queen's friends. On one hand it's strange to see us all growing up, and on the other we're still watching "World's Scariest Explosions" and "The Hills"...maybe not so grown up.

From now on I should be able to keep people more informed of what is new. You can mostly expect random ramblings with no specific point, but basically you all know that by now.

Reading - The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Listening to - The sounds of the movie "Daredevil" in the background. It's more like an annoying screech when Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner dialogue with each other.

Grrrr.....

Somehow my last post never found it's way here and as I was finished writing it I was already patting myself on the back for how great it was....People will laugh, cry and do push-ups all while reading this blog, is what I told myself. I guess it got lost in cyber space, sort of like Jodie Foster in that movie Contact...

Why bring up the movie Contact? Because that's basically all I did all weekend, watch movies (Contact included). I was supposed to head to Toronto for a course which I found out I was on the waiting list for approximately 18 hours before I was supposed to leave for it. Bascially it left me with a free weekend on nothing to do...or so I thought. It was at that exact moment that my parents swooped in and asked my nicely to "buy them Bob Seger tickets at 10am Saturday" as they dangled a delicious meal in front of me.....They won

So I ended up staying at my parent's house, which felt a bit like I was intruding because I'm still sort of halfway in the door and halfway out...I rationalized that because I was trying to get concert tickets for them, I could take at least some of their food. Apparently Bob Seger tickets are worth: 2 eggs, bacon, hash browns, a ham snadwich, two boxes of Kraft Dinner, 2 hot dogs, leftover pizza, cereal and a lifetime of cookies.

While I was wandering aimlessly around the house I also ran across an old t-shirt of mine which was sitting on my parent's bed. It was a Dream Team Basketball shirt circa 1992 which read "Our dream...your nightmare" which I'm sure I thought was so cool at the time that I bought it. Never mind that I was Canadian and was one of the nations meant to have "nightmares" about Larry Bird rifling a pass to Charles Barkely who baby hooked it in the basket....I could just imagine poor little Spanish women being unable to sleep at the thought of Scottie Pippen's smothering defensive stance...Is this what the makers of the shirt envisioned when they came up with the slogan?

I just realized that most of what came up in this post came up in the last one which tells me two things: 1) I lead a dull life...and 2) I find the dullest things the most exciting.

Reading - "Long Way Around" by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman
Listening to - "Caring Is Creepy" by The Shins

Get out!

If anyone doubts the effectiveness of a commerical sinking into your subconsciousness then consider that I can't get that song from the friggin' IPOD commercial out of my head. Therefore, I'm including it to try and pass the "stuck in the head" karma that I've got going on. If anything this video proves that groups of girls do in fact hang out in their lingerie dancing around....I knew it!

As to why I haven't been posting, it's been entirely due to a lack of internet. The new pad, while inside a house, technically counts as another house and therefore temporarily foiled our plans of using the one internet connections. I'm sure a bunch of you will message me saying this is easy to get around, and it is, but I'm lazy.

Or maybe not too lazy, just preoccupied...Anyways, I'm going to try and post when I can. I will now have exciting stories of wedding planning which the girls will no doubt find fun and the guys will make fun of me for...Oh well, all press is good press...

By the way, pitchers and catchers reported for Spring Training today and Kerry Wood is already hurt...Some things never change

Reading - Long Way Around by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman
Listening To: "Flathead" by The Fratellis

Packing up a sad sad life...

For those of you who don't know I am once again moving out of my parents home and into an apartment herre in Windsor...so no big deal really. The most fun about this move is packing up and finding all sorts of things that seem to linger around your room for no real reason. My main "lingering spot" is directly under my bed. Currently I have found the following items in this location:

1) A Dru Hill CD
2) Hootie and The Blowfish CD- Through Cracked Rearview (featuring the blockbusters "Hold My Hand", "Let Her Cry" and "Only Wanna Be With You")
3) A mismatched pair of socks
4) A medal for being on the 1995 Optimist Club of St. Clair Beach Senior League Soccer Championship team for the 6 PM time slot
5) Marshmallow Shooter (TM) Instructions and "Tips and Tricks"
6) A fake autographed picture of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson at the All-Star Game. (It's their real signatures, just a copy of them...hence the reason it is under my bed)

The sad thing is that now that I've uncovered these gems I can't seem to part with any of them. While they've spent the better part of a decade hidden away, it's almost like extra Christmas presents when I re-find them. They're all going into a box and will be placed back under my bed at the new apartment. It's my own personal time capsule

Hope everyone had a good Christmas. We had a blast when a certain family member asked if Dave Chapelle was the "guy who played in that show with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson?". After a long pause and the realization that they were talking about Uncle Joey/Dave Coulier the laughs didn't stop. Much to the delight of the whole family no one bothered to break out the "I'm Uncle Joey bitch!" lines.

Have a happy and safe New Year, hopefully more pictures/videos soon!

Reading - "The Potato Factory" by Bryce Courtney
Listening to - "Low" by Coldplay

This Is What the Holidays Are All About

...It must be Christmas when I'm huddled around my laptop watching episodes of Entourage. You know you've been filled with the holiday spirit when you watch an episode where Gary Busey describes "emotional confusion" as "running naked backwards through a corn field at midnight". My favourite part of the show are the random celebrity cameos and the name dropping that goes along with it. Example:

Jessica Alba: Hey guys, it's me Jessica Alba
Vince: Hey! Jessica Alba, so good to see you
J.A.: Would you guys like to come to my house for a party tonight. I'm Jessica Alba
Vince: Sure thing Jessica Alba, we'll be there
All in unison: Jessica Alba

I realize this is done to emphasize that the show has the power to draw celebrities such as the aformentioned Alba, but it always reminds me of our university newspaper. The reason being that one of our school newspapers was entirely for jokes, and one day they decided to put a tape recorder into a Student Council meeting and documenting the contents verbatim. The idea behind this was that by taking certain things out of context they would sound much funnier than in person. The favourite on campus was when one member of council with the last name Zwambag (I can't make this up) dropped her last name mid conversation in what made for confusing reading. Little did she know that this one simple act of name dropping spawned all sorts of Zwambag related jokes and even an award for grand party champion.....To make a long story short, name dropping is funny, and so is Entourage.

Christmas is also great because of my Advent calendar. When I got home from New Zealand on December 1st I found one waiting for me on my bed, placed there by a loving mother who has bought me one for the past 25 years..and who was severely threatened the year she thought about stopping the tradition. I'm lobbying heavily to have a yearlong calendar of chocolate. First of all, chocolate is delicious..and secondly, the only time of the year that I actually remember the date is from Dec 1- Dec 24. This is a great educational tool for children of all ages and should be expanded to maximize the learning experience/caffein intake.

In my excitement of learning how to post videos I've decided to add one from my trip to New Zealand as a holiday treat. It features a hungover British girl with a dirty mouth, Andrew talking about bungeeing and how that would affect him; and a discussion on American Thanksigiving as Patty, our American friend, walked through the camera.

Happy Holidays!

Reading: "The Potato Factory" by Bryce Courtenay
Listening To: "Was It You" by Donovan Frankenreiter

Back To Queenstown and Christchurch - November 28, 29, 30...Wrapping this trip up

So I could tell you all about our return to Queenstown or I could sum it up in a few succint points.

Point the first: We stayed in the same room and the same beds as the last time
Point 2: We ran into the same people as last time, and Karl from Ottawa who wore a shirts which read "Can I Take This Snake On The Plane" with an arrow pointing to the crotchal region
Point 3: We went to the same bar and drank the same drinks
Point 4: We saw many mullets and rat tails
Point 5: We had fun

Christchurch may have been a very fun city but for the most part we were all pretty disappointed about the trip ending that we forgot it wasn't over. Seriously though, we had to do all the fun things that one does at the end of the trip. Return the car, get a ride back to the hostel with a lady named D who will never forget us and will gladly drive us anywhere in NZ, get Adam to the airport the day before us, watch bad movies with annoying girls from Ohio, and eat multiple sausage and egg mcmuffins.

That about wraps up the trip, it was an excellent one which I would recommend to anyone. I will gladly pass on all the pertinent info like where to find the best mullets/rat tails, the best beer, the best camper vans, etc.

This means I can now go back to my usual rambling about nothing. I apologize to everyone!























Kilmer's stache on the final day...what a big boy! 

Te Anau/Milford Sound - November 26 & 27

The fun thing about New Zealand is that you can basically drive from one coast to another in about 4 hours. If anyone is actually looking at a map of where we've gone you'd see we went from Queenstown, which is basically on the West Coast, to Dunedin on the East Coast, and now back Te Anau on the West Coast...We are excellent at planning trips and conserving gas..but it had to be done.

Milford Sound may very well be the most tourist travelled destination in New Zealand. Filled with crystal blue water, fjords, waterfalls, dolphins and penguins it's easy to see why. Before we took our day trip we stayed in Te Anau, using it as our home base. Te Anau was a small, laid back town with two bars, a few shops and not much else. This meant one thing....time to check e-mail...Invariably it seems this is what ends up happening when we get bored. Typical conversation goes like this:

Kilmer: What's there to do in this one horse town
Doug: Ha! One horse town
Ads: We could check e-mail
Doug: We just checked it like an hour ago
Kilmer: Oh shut up Doug!
Ads: Your mom checks e-mail
Kilmer: Well how bout we check e-mail, drop some hate, take a nap and then be ready for dinner

This is pretty much how our days off went in small towns. The good thing about Te Anau was running into the girls again. We ended up being directly across the hall from them and they helped us out big time at dinner by making us garlic bread and cookies for dessert. If you're going to meet people while travelling make sure they are able to provide food or booze for you...preferably both.

The next day we got up at the ass crack of dawn to be on our bus trip to Milford Sound. Immediately IPOD's went on and we all fell asleep, much to the dismay of everyone around us. I awoke with Kilmer elbowing me telling me to turn down my music because people were staring, and my snoring wasn't helping. Sure enough there was an angry looking old couple giving me the death stare of all stares. Acting tough I said "So, what do I care"...translation "I'm a scared little boy who doesn't want to offend tourists I will never care again".

The drive from there on out was unreal...We got up to 3000m elevation and the ground was covered entirely in snow. The cruis when we finally got there was great as well...I can't really do it justice so I'll let everyone stare at the pictures....

I'm off to check e-mail


















View from "downtown" Te Anau















Buying stuff for dinner, we cooked once the entire trip.















The view of the lake from our backpackers...early morning 

This is about where I woke up on the bus ride...Mirror Lake. It was worth the nap to get there






























When these guys cut an album this will be the cover that will sell tens of copies 

 

 

The Homer Tunnel, 1 mile straight into the rock...




















Kilmer and Ads, posing with snow for the first time in over a year. Apparently Brisbane is pretty warm or something like that....Suprised you didn't know that















The Kea is a fat parrot-like bird that supposedly makes a noise like "kea"...I say supposedly because it doesn't. It is also supposedly not able to fly..although this one took off pretty well. Other ones just shrug their shoulders and jump to lift their fat bodies off the ground only to fall right back...Damn gravity

 

 

 

 

K-Pod sets up his tripod and earns a new nickname...





















Asian tourists are good at disobeying signs. Here is an one example of a man disobeying a sign that clearly stated in multiple languages "Do Not Stand" on the equipment. Other rules that were disobeyed were "Do Not Chop Andrew's Arm To Get Past Him" and "Do Not Crush Old Ladies from San Francisco Into The Front Railings To Take Pictures"